MTR Stock Suspended Pending China High-Speed Rail Study

A commuter is reflected in a platform screen door awhile waiting for a train inside MTR Corp.'s Central station in Hong Kong. MTR is building the rail link that connects Hong Kong to the Beijing-Guangzhou track at a cost of HK$68.4 billion ($8.8 billion), an estimate that was raised from HK$66.9 billion in May because of delays in the project. Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- MTR Corp., the Hong Kong train
operator, suspended its shares from trading pending a report
regarding a high-speed rail link that connects the financial hub
to the Beijing-Guangzhou line in China.

Trading was suspended from 11 a.m. pending the release of
the report, the train operator said in a statement to the Hong
Kong stock exchange today. The company will hold a press
briefing at 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong to share details of the
report. MTR Chairman Raymond Chien and IBC Chairman Frederick Ma
will attend the press conference.

MTR is building the rail link that connects Hong Kong to
the Beijing-Guangzhou track at a cost of HK$68.4 billion ($8.8
billion), an estimate that was raised from HK$66.9 billion in
May because of delays in the project. The total costs would be
finalized by July, Antonio Choi, MTR’s general manager for the
project, told lawmakers in May.

Completion of work on the Hong Kong section of the express
rail link will be delayed to 2016 from 2015, MTR’s project
director Chew Tai-chong told reporters in April. The line is
expected to open for passenger services in 2017, Chew said.

MTR is 76.3 percent owned by Hong Kong’s government,
according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock fell 0.5
percent before it was halted for trading.